Month: March 2015

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Beautiful People Beautiful Places Healthy Living Yoga

Wah, wah, wah, Light in the Dark

It’s steamy…
sm_IMG_1616Being a night owl (a recovered insomniac*), I like to practice in the evening – late evening when all the “doing” and running around, rushing about comes to a halt and I can press the “pause’ button knowing I don’t have to re-start for awhile.

I tend to feel the need to conserve my energy at all other times but post dinner late evening (hear the booming voice of Maty, “you create MORE energy when you direct ALL energy!” – that’s the AM concept), I am better able to gauge how much energy I can tap into when there’s nothing left to do. Actually, late nights, I am SO tired, there are times, during rounds of repeated vinyasa, I feel like just collapsing from my Chaturanga right onto the mat and checking out rubbing my eyes…lol. All demands cease, every commitment is almost over with, and such class does not break up the day nor consume the precious morning hours – I dedicate the time right before turning in – to purge all thoughts to just “be”…relieved from the chores, the duties… all life’s little dramas… to usher in detoxifying and purifying evening to let go of the day… I treat the class almost like that …an opportunity to cleanse and purify from the day’s built up tension and stress. I love the sense of closure and completion for the day, a late evening practice allows.

Wonder why there aren’t more late night yoga classes? (okay, admittedly, we are TIRED… even exhausted. Maybe even the instructors are all too tired…) Is it the fear of the darkness? Why fear darkness …Do bad people come out at night? ??? Is there a really good TV or cable program that time I don’t know about? Used to go to 8:30 pm classes which worked so well for me but … there is none around here. So odd. 8:30 class is perfect – you get out 10:00pm and go home and wind down. It’s perfect – at least it is, for me at the moment. Thank you Teacher K for such ideal schedule. It’s a well designed vinyasa flow and judging from the packed studio room, I am not the only one who thinks practice around 8-9pm is ideal. Sadly, it’s only once a week…The only public class I can take at this time…but hope for more as I so enjoy being a student to keep myself motivated. How else can I challenge myself to the eventual intensives … I hope to do in series …and still remain giving to family and friends… striking a balance somehow.

sm_IMG_5978Still reminiscing…
Wah ! with basket of rose petals – an offering accepted with gratitude.

This quote crossed my mind – again…

“I’m not so weird to me.”

― Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

* circadian rhythm restored through yoga. One of many benefits:)

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Beautiful People Yoga

Aloha Again:) Jake Shimabukuro

There’s something amazing that happens when you have the ability to speak that language …
It just makes you feel SO good … I tell you,

it’s like an ENTIRE YOGA SESSION in one strum …

(It) just like, brings you back to CENTER;
It zeros you out.

– Jake Shimabukuro at Google

Not an ukelele virtuoso? So some of us are not strumming but doing yoga instead …or maybe, do both? Assuming Jake is a yogi… he must be.
He knows yoga too well not to be:
For him, strumming a chord, like (Yoga) “brings you back to CENTER & ZEROS YOU OUT.” Zeros you out? Nice expression:)

It’s ENERGY – it’s about the energy – not the physical type you can see but the energy that comes from WITHIN.

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Beautiful People

Feels like it each time…Aloha:)

Music is not the universal language;
Music is THE language of the Universe.

– Jake Shimabukuro at Google

Ichigo-Ichie… what does it mean?

No words needed… out of focus amateur video but then …visuals don’t matter either…Just grateful that the footage is shared.

So anyway, that’s what Ichigo-Ichie means in case you wondered as I mentioned it few times in past posts.

Referring to the first video above, his selection 53:25 min. into this concert, is his rendition of a song called “First Love” … since no one here knows what the original song Jake is playing off from sounds like – Here’s “First Love” – throw back 1999 …Utada Hikaru’s scrape-y raspy voice so popular back then. “Hikaru” means “light” or more like “shining light”:) Enjoy as this may get taken down right away…maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q5-4yMi-xg

BTW, THIS is a good example of why some songs with lyrics just do not work in yoga classes – do we really want to listen to a sad experience of a heart break when we are practicing to press a delete button, erase and empty the mind of thoughts streaming ? As much as we love the human voice, the words carry a lot of imagery both positive and negative so… sometimes when we want to clear our mind from memories from the past and planning or anxieties about the future, to live “radically” in the present, following the words can be distracting. (wait, just occurred to me that if you don’t know Japanese, it’s a Ohhh K!)

Then, on the contrary, some words are inspiring and like a magical tonic, gives you the fuzzy warm happy feeling – it’s like how breath can dictate how you feel; so can the vibes in the air – so much can influence how you feel, whether it be sounds, lights, color, vibes, touch … so instead of reacting each time to the unsettling ripples … it’s good to allow the ripples to settle …then you can see the reflection off the surface better – ripples settle, the cloudy swirl in the waters eventually settles and there’s lucidity … with that clarity; follow your heart.

Easily said than done?

Aloha:)

* He makes it look so effortless, playing that ukulele but one knows …how hard it is to bring out such complex and textured sounds from a very simple instrument like that – it’s not the violins of the world. SO, really, cannot complain about my wrists – practice correctly. repeat & repeat over and over…is kind of the thought I come away with, realizing the hours of practice to attain such mastery.